ADVOCATE FOR HOUSING – Richard Roberts of Centerville never misses an opportunity to speak up for Habitat for Humanity.

Richard Roberts recognized for “true humble service”

In the past 14 years, Centerville’s Richard Roberts has done everything for Cape Cod’s Habitat for Humanity “from leadership to dirty work,” said the organization’s executive director, Vicki Goldsmith. And now he has taken home Habitat’s “Everett Stoyle Spirit of Service Award” for his continuing contributions.

At the annual meeting Oct. 17 in South Yarmouth at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Roberts received the award Goldsmith said is named for a longtime volunteer from Falmouth. “It’s for true humble service,” she explained. “It is given to a volunteer who has given a lot of time, but also for the way they do it.”

After his retirement, Roberts and his wife moved to Centerville from Corning, NY, to be nearer their parents here and in Rhode Island. His 95-year-old mother lives with them now.

Early on in their Cape residency, he recalled, looking for something fulfilling to do, “I went to a Habitat meeting in Harwich and the rest is history.” Roberts was an engineer who later moved into positions of management.

But he was always interested in house maintenance, he said, and has found Habitat for Humanity “a good place to learn. If you spoil a board, no one yells at you.”

Roberts called Habitat “a happy place for me. I’ve never seen squabbling at Habitat.”

In addition to his hands-on work helping to build houses for families in need, Roberts has served for three years as chair of Habitat’s Mid-Cape chapter and nine years on its Capewide board of directors.

He has also, Habitat publicity says, helped to lead five disaster relief trips to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. Now, according to Goldsmith, Roberts is waiting to hear about service on a team that will travel to a site damaged by Hurricane Sandy. “The things Dick does are tangible,” she said, with emphasis on the last word. Asked what he does when not giving time to Habitat, Roberts said he volunteers with the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and his church, and takes care of his mother.

“In his spare time,” the Habitat release notes wryly, Roberts has “also helped us retrofit our new Habitat ReStore.” Located on White’s Path in South Yarmouth (just off Exit 8), the ReStore accepts construction surplus from projects all over the Cape. The material is then sold to the public to help fund more Habitat projects.

Goldsmith said that the ReStore idea began in Canada and that now there are nearly 700 of them in North America. Because Habitat has so much experience in starting and operating ReStores, “we got great advice” from the national office, said Goldsmith. She said that the ReStore has been such a successful fundraiser that the Cape outlet has plans for expansion. “We have beautiful quality furniture and building materials,” she said.

Another of Roberts’ services to Habitat was on the family selection committee that screens applicants for Habitat homes. “It was an eye-opener,” he said, “to meet the people” who were trying for a home that they would build themselves with the help of a Habitat volunteer crew.

Was it heartbreaking to have to turn down the people who did not get the housing?

“Yes, it was,” Roberts said. “If they don’t get accepted for the house about to be built, they have to start all over again [with the application process]. They don’t go to the top of another list.” Goldsmith said that Roberts was an asset on that committee because he is “respectful, and a good listener.”

Currently, Roberts serves Habitat as a member of the design and construction committee. Habitat says that he has helped to design “many of our 80 Habitat homes built so far on Cape Cod.”

How does he feel about the Everett Stoyle Spirit of Service Award?

“I was amazed and surprised,” Roberts said, and explained, “I like to work behind the scenes. I think I get more out of Habitat than Habitat gets out of me.”

Goldsmith says Centerville will be the next focus for a Habitat project [see related story, page A:1]. They have recently received a donation of land in the village and hope to build a new house for a family in 2013.

Random House has published a picture book described in a print ad as a “story based on Habitat for Humanity’s enduring spirit of giving.” Called The Carpenter’s Gift, the book weaves a story of New York City during the Depression, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, and a young boy’s wish for “a nice, warm home to replace his family’s drafty shack.”

For information about volunteering with Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod, contact Dawn Walnut at
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or at 508-362-3559 x16.